Across Afghanistan, monumental transitions like the one involving Marine Lt. Col. Thomas Ziegler are taking place. Ziegler handed over the key to the front gate of his military base at Delaram this month, leaving Afghan national troops solely in charge of securing Nimruz province. Then he and his team of about 100 Marine advisers and supporting personnel — the last coalition forces in Nimruz — withdrew.

Two years after the creation of the 4th Brigade of the 215th Afghan National Army Corps, the Afghan troops had been declared mission capable and independent. “This entire province now belongs to the Afghans, and it is up to them for their security,” Ziegler said in a phone interview from the neighboring Helmand province, where thousands of Camp Pendleton-based troops have served during the war.

“It sends an important message,” Ziegler added. “Not only are we saying that you’re ready to go and we don’t need to be there with you any longer, but now you have to. It’s not empty words.”

The Nimruz force of about 4,500 Afghan soldiers and police officers must safeguard the national government without direct coalition assistance.

These changes of command are unfolding nationwide as the last American and NATO combat troops prepare to head home by the end of 2014 — 13 years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. They mark what’s likely the final combat chapter for American troops in this war, which has pulled in not only a significant number of Marines but also sailors and National Guardsmen based in San Diego County.

Marines patrol in Sangin with Afghan forces taking the lead. Marines from 1/7 have been training and advising Afghan forces to plan and execute patrols and combat operations on their own.
— Nelvin C. Cepeda

Marines patrol in Sangin with Afghan forces taking the lead. Marines from 1/7 have been training and advising Afghan forces to plan and execute patrols and combat operations on their own.
— Nelvin C. Cepeda

Marine Brig. Gen. Daniel Yoo, the former commanding general of Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, is slated to be the last commander in charge of international forces in southwestern Afghanistan. Before the close of this year, he is set to relinquish oversight of the Camp Leatherneck-Bastion-Shorabak base complex in Helmand province, where a force of mostly U.S. Marines and British troops suffered more killed-in-action casualties during the war than in any other province.

U-T San Diego is returning to Helmand province for the fifth time since the United States’ 2010 troop surge sent a doubled-up force of Marines to the region under the command of a Camp Pendleton general.

The Marines helped stabilize some of the most populated areas of southern Afghanistan, the birthplace of the Taliban. But now the U.S.-led NATO war campaign is ending, and insurgents are hoping to restore Taliban rule over the country.

Uncertain future

Big questions remain about the future of Afghanistan.

Foremost among them is whether the United States and its allies will leave a residual force of military personnel to continue advising Afghan national forces and conduct counterterrorism operations.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, the top coalition commander in Afghanistan and former commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force headquartered at Camp Pendleton, has asked for at least 10,000 American troops to remain for a limited time post-2014.

Without that investment in developing the institutional capacity of the Afghan national security forces, their ability to sustain themselves and hold back the insurgency after the coalition withdraws is doubtful, Dunford said in a Christmas Day interview with U-T San Diego at Camp Leatherneck.